The World of Juba II and Kleopatra Selene: Royal Scholarship on Rome's African Frontier

Raised and educated in Rome, Juba II (48 BC- AD 23) was sent to uphold Roman interests in northwest Africa as ruler of the cliet kingdom of Mauretania. Together with his wife K'eopatra Selene, daughter of Marcus Anthonius and Kleopatra VII, he established a rich, multicultural environment at their capital, renamed Caesarea, where Egyptian, Hellenistic Greek and indigenous elements came together. Juba combined a reign of more than half a century with a career as a distinguished scholar and writer, producing an extensive collection of works and shaping Roman knowledge of the southern half of the known world, from the Atlantic coast of northwest Africa to India. This book explores the complex culture and legacy of the kingdom, with emphasis on Juba's scholarship and the world created by these two remarkable monarchs. This detailed and comprehensive study is not only the first examination in English of Juba's life and career, but the first critical analysis of the king both as an implementer of the Augustan political, artistic and intellectual programme and as a notable scholar.